SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Cort Guitars introduces the Space 5, a new bass model that both harkens to the company’s innovative past and looks to the future of the instrument with a light, compact, and portable design.

First hitting the streets in the 1980s after an exhaustive R&D process, Cort’s groundbreaking Space line of guitars and basses helped to spearhead the decade’s headless fretted instrument boom. Now, with the Space 5, the company builds upon its storied legacy, while adding modern-day features and enhancements. Overall design takes cues from a handful of classics without nodding too much to the past.

A solid-feeling bass with a maple body and 6 mm solid poplar burl top, the Artisan Space boasts excellent sustain and vibrational qualities from its 40mm thickness. A 7-piece roasted maple, walnut, and purpleheart neck is simultaneously stunning and functional, affording players a defined midrange that compliments the expansive, bright qualities of the body. The gorgeous wood grain enhances the eye-catching body and neck shape (with distinctive “Next Gen” Cort logo engraved just beneath the upper cutaway), modeled after the flagship Artisan Bass Series, while the deeper contour and cutaways along with individual bridge with tuner knobs are significant upgrades.